Birkirkara and Tarxien Rainbows will be gunning for more valuable points in the Premier League when they face off at the Hibs Stadium (kick-off: 7pm).
Both the Stripes and the Rainbows head into the match in high spirits following eye-catching performances at the weekend which saw them pick up valuable points in their bid to move away from the lower places in the standings.
On Saturday, Birkirkara played their first match since returning from a mandatory four-week quarantine and took little time to shrug off any concern of their fitness level with a clinical performance against an in-form Gudja United side.
In fact, Andre Paus’s boys struck three times in the first half to complete a dominant performance against the southerners and pick up only their second victory in the Premier League this season.
On the other hand, Tarxien Rainbows produced arguably one of the performances of the weekend when they stunned Valletta 3-1 at the Centenary Stadium.
Winston Muscat’s men were in hot form against the struggling Citizens as they showed great cutting edge in front of goal to severely punish a lacklustre Valletta defence.
In fact, after taking a deserved first-half lead, the Rainbows kept their poise to finish the job with two quick-fire goals after the interval to bag three very important points that lifted them on the eight-point mark, just one ahead of the same Stripes.
Relegation battle
For both teams, today’s match holds a huge bearing in their ambition of moving away from the relegation places.
It’s quite surprising to see Birkirkara in such lower places in the standings, given the quality they possess in their squad but surely coach Andre Paus will be hopeful his players can now kickstart a winning run that could see them climb the standings and move closer to the fight for European places.
Birkirkara are boosted by the return of Italian defender Francesco Verde who missed the Gudja match due to a one-game ban.
On the other hand, Tarxien have struggled for consistency.
Coach Muscat will be keeping his fingers crossed that the win over Valletta will have injected some much-needed self-belief in his players to be able to repeat high-level performances such as that of last weekend, week in week out, particularly given the fierce battle to avoid the drop that is set to materialise this season.
